


Moonlit Meetings

by jolikawaiiciel (LottieHolmes)



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Illegal Activities, M/M, Police, Secret Identity, phantom thievery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-03 08:11:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4093531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LottieHolmes/pseuds/jolikawaiiciel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To track down the people that killed his parents and destroyed his life, Ciel creates a persona of a Phantom Thief and becomes the head of the task force to capture the thief. This plan works well enough until an officer named Sebastian Michaelis is added to the team and begins to unravel Ciel's secrets. Modern AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Encounter

**Moonlit Meetings:**

**Chapter 1:**

The Police officer known as Ciel Durless yawned and peered hopefully at the clock on the wall in the task force office. He had half an hour before he could leave and nothing to do because he couldn't get any leads on the elusive thief he was investigating, mainly because he actually was the phantom thief in question.

"Are you sure that Scene of Crime Officers could not pick up any DNA or fingerprints from the scene?" he asked his assistant, an older officer called Tanaka who also assisted in his criminal activities.

Tanaka shook his head. "Fortunately not. There was a close call with a hair from your wig which I managed to pick up without anyone noticing."

Ciel frowned. "I will try to be more careful next time. It's fortunate that I am head of the task force that is supposed to capture my alter ego."

Naturally it wasn't a coincidence. Once he had decided that the way to investigate his parents' mysterious death, was by creating a false persona of a phantom thief, he had made sure to infiltrate the team investigating the aforementioned phantom thief. He was already a respected police officer beforehand so it hadn't been too challenging and he had ended up being in charge of the task force after some well placed bribes.

"What is the media saying about last night?" he enquired curiously. Comments about the inefficiency of the investigating officers were always a source of amusement.

Tanaka held up a newspaper in reply. Ciel stared at the photo taking up a majority of the front pages which was of a man dressed entirely in black with a black cape and a matching mask and hat. He made a face upon observing the angle had been taken from. It clearly showed that he was below average height, something that he was sensitive about.

"The elusive Phantom Thief strikes again, leaving Chief Inspector Ciel Durless in a tizzy. This is the tenth time that the Chief Inspector has let the thief escape unhindered," Tanaka read aloud from the newspaper. "All the newspapers are running similar stories. You can check for yourself.

"Considering that I am the thief in question, it is beneficial, but we may be audited soon or I may be removed from this investigation team. We could leave behind some clues at the next heist," he suggested thoughtfully. "The longer this double life continues, the more likely it is that we will all lose our positions in the task force."

The third occupant of the office finally spoke up.

"Actually, you aren't being removed, a new member is being added to be the team," Mey-Rin said. "An email was sent just now."

Ciel's eyes widened and he hastened to check his inbox. As Mey-Rin has said, there was indeed an email from one of his superiors about the addition to the team. He skim read the email hurriedly to find out the name of the new member.

"Inspector Sebastian Michaelis."

Below the name was a photo. Sebastian Michaelis had long black hair with a long stranded fringe and piercing scarlet eyes. He looked to be a few years older than himself.

He turned to the member of the team whose main duty was to pick up on gossip.

"Mey-Rin, have you ever heard of Sebastian Michaelis?"

"I have. To say he is slightly well known to all the females here at Scotland Yard is an understatement, he is very famous," she explained. "He has had a fast rise through the ranks and hasn't had an unsolved case yet. Everyone considers him to be attractive too."

She paused and Ciel observed that her face had flushed a deep red which he had never seen before.

"Mey-Rin, do you have something else to add?" Tanaka asked her.

"I tripped up last week when I was carrying your tea back here. He was kind enough to catch me and the tea.

Ciel considered their possible options carefully. Firstly, Sebastian Michaelis' track record for cases was unsettling so there was a danger there. There was a chance that he could lure Michaelis onto his side, but if he had a strong sense of justice he was likely to refuse. The current members of the investigation team were his former butler and maid from his childhood that had both entered the Police force as a result of his orders. His attention returned to the email.

"It says he is arriving at 9 tomorrow morning and it is hoped that he will increase our productivity."

"We need a plan," Tanaka stated the obvious. "The moment he comes in here and spots your stack of Sherlock Holmes books and all the magazines on Mey-Rin's desk, he is going to know that something untoward is going on."

Ciel scowled, but placed the books in a bag to take home nevertheless.

"We need to distract him at heists too. It's going to be harder for me to sneak off," Ciel's eyes fell on Mey-Rin and he recalled her blush from earlier. "Mey-Rin, could you possibly flirt with him whenever we need a diversion?"

"I'd be happy to- I mean yes, I will if that is what you wish," she said, looking suspiciously eager.

That caused him to make a mental note to keep an eye on her. If Sebastian was as disarmingly handsome as she seemed to think, there was a possibility that she could slip up and reveal the truth.

"It is decided then, we will clear out every sign of our lack of work, Mey-Rin will act as the diversion and we are going to start leaving behind clues at heists," Tanaka concluded.

* * *

The next morning Sebastian Michaelis walked down the corridor to his new place of work. He was not at all apprehensive about the case he would be working on, he had yet to encounter a case he could not solve; he was more nervous about the people he would be working with. Chief Inspector Ciel Durless, Inspector Tanaka and Sergeant Mey-Rin.

As preparation he had asked around about them and hadn't managed to obtain much information as they did not socialise with other detectives. All he knew that that Ciel was in his early twenties whilst looking a lot younger and was considered to be cute, Tanaka was a much older officer that was close to retirement and Mey-Rin was in her thirties and was the one to make Ciel tea. In addition, they had yet to get any leads on the thief they were investigating for over six months, yet they had all had a good track record before joining the team, making their six failures at heists a contrast.

The mysterious phantom thief was also an issue. Prior to the thief's first appearance, Sebastian had believed that phantom thieves firmly belonged in fiction and not in real life. Clearly it was going to be one hell of a unique case. He had also been told by the Superintendent of the department to kick the pale faced weakling, Ciel Durless into action and to not condone any battiness from him.

He knocked on the door of the office and strode in, not bothering to wait for a reply.

A grey blue haired man with arctically pale skin was sitting at his desk and looked up at him questioningly as he walked in. Sebastian took him to be Ciel as he was the only young male in the room. Hovering next to Ciel was an older man with slicked back grey hair and a younger red haired woman with thick glasses.

"Inspector Sebastian Michaelis?" Ciel acknowledged him.

"Yes and you must be Ciel."

Ciel simply nodded at him and went back to talking to Tanaka. Sebastian caught the eye of the only female in the room who sidled out from behind the desk to stand next to him.

"I'm Mey-Rin," she smiled widely and blushed. "We have met before."

Immediately Sebastian categorised her into the group of females that constantly blushed and stuttered around him. He hoped she would get over it and it would not be a continuing habit. He turned back to Ciel and Tanaka.

"-no forensic evidence found at the scene. We could get it checked again or we may have to wait until the next heist," Ciel was saying. "It's a shame about the lack of CCTV too."

Sensing that Ciel was still bitter about his addition to the team and was not going to be forthcoming with information for the time being, Sebastian decided to observe the case progress on the whiteboard in the corner of the office

The dates and times of heists were listed alongside photos displaying the aftermath which was useful to an extent. Underneath a newspaper photo of the phantom thief in question was nothing, indicating that they really hadn't found anything in the past six months. In order to get a closer look, he took down the photo of the thief, noting as he did that the adhesive used was very new. Something caught his eye and he titled the whiteboard slightly. Traces of what looked like a game of hangman that had been rubbed out was visible.

It was clear what had transpired the previous day. To make it look like they actually did work instead of playing games all day, they had removed or at least tried to remove all traces and had hastily added the case progress.

Sebastian replaced the photo and approached Ciel who was looking at him suspiciously, hinting that he had noticed what Sebastian had been doing.

"So Sebastian, what do you think about the case?" Ciel questioned. "I have heard about your reputation."

Sebastian recognised that he was being goaded and refused to rise to the bait.

"I have never encountered anything like it before which makes it all the more interesting and I look forward to encountering the thief," he said smoothly. "Perhaps we will get some evidence at the next heist."

"What do you suggest we do in the meantime? Another heist has not been announced yet and there is not a distinct pattern of heists so far. It would be months away."

Sebastian accepted that he had a valid point, but he wasn't going to let Ciel get away with not doing any work.

"I suggest that we don't play games and start profiling the thief."

Ciel was beginning to sense genuine danger from Sebastian Michaelis. It had not taken him long to deduce that they didn't do anything all day and now he was suggesting profiling.

"Remember, I outrank you and I am still head of this team so I do not have to carry out your suggestions, Michaelis. That said, what can you tell me about the thief?

Sebastian had not yet had a chance to read the case files so all he knew was the information reported in the media.

"The thief, I'm assuming is a male because of the build of his body. He never steals anything, he only ransacks the place, making his motive hard to deduce. There is one thing that I definitely know about him that may help identify who he is."

Ciel started to feel very nervous about what Sebastian was going to say. "What is it?

"His height. He looks short in all the photos. He looks to be as short as you," Sebastian pointed at him.

Ciel flinched. He had been right to feel nervous, Sebastian was going to be trouble.

* * *

**The influences for this story are the stories written about the French Phantom Thief Arsene Lupin and other works that derived from the original stories.**


	2. Second Sighting

**Moonlit Meetings:**

**Chapter 2:**

"I knew we were going to have to watch out for him, I didn't know that he was going to be that sharp," Mey-Rin complained that evening at Ciel's flat.

Tanaka poured out a cup of tea for his master who was very stressed after an exhausting day and was half asleep in an armchair.

"To be frank young master, this cannot go on for much longer. Either we find those responsible soon or we stop and find a different method. Alternatively, we could bribe or blackmail Michaelis."

Ciel sat up to sip his tea and thought back to earlier. He had managed to laugh off Sebastian's comment and had told him to never make comments like that to a superior officer ever again, however a seed of suspicion may have remained in Sebastian's mind.

"Blackmail would work better than bribery. Tanaka, can you find everything you can about him? It's an unusual name so it should not be that hard," he ordered. "When is Aunt Ann due back in England?"

His aunt was his guardian who had adopted him following his parents' death and she had changed his surname to hers so he would not be recognised at school as the son of the victims of a well publicised murder case. His name change from Ciel Phantomhive to Ciel Durless was currently useful as it meant his parents' persecutors would be unaware of his involvement with the Police and the phantom thief.

The heists were simply a ruse to search the houses of the suspects. The suspects were acquaintances of his parents that he, Tanaka and his aunt were able to remember. So far some of the suspects had been found to be carrying out illegal activities such as fencing stolen paintings or drug dealing, but none had murdered anyone or had a strong enough motive to murder his parents.

"If we don't get any hints at the next heist, I will consider quitting, not as a Police officer though," he relented. "I want to keep my position in the Police. For now we need to plan the next one."

Tanaka retrieved the list of suspects and a map from its hiding place in a cushion. For safety all evidence that the trio were involved was concealed even their own homes in case of a search.

Ciel took the notebook and ticked off their most recent suspect.

"I really though Baron Kelvin was the person we were looking for," Mey-Rin complained. "He had photos of you and your family everywhere."

"His interests did not lie in murder," Tanaka said plainly. "He was an odious and disgusting man. When we are finished with everything, we should release all the evidence we found on him about his hobbies."

Ciel nodded in agreement. Over the course of six months they had discovered a lot of things that they had to keep quiet as it would ruin the plan.

He ran through the list of the names with focused eyes. If he only had one heist left he was going to have to choose carefully. Ciel was sure that he had seen his parents' murderer on their way out of the house, but no matter how hard he tried to remember he could never recall what their face looked like which was understandable as he had only been 10 when it had happened.

Randomly he pointed at a name and attempted to remember who they were. The name Arthur Wordsmith did sound familiar, although he couldn't remember ever meeting him.

"Tanaka, can you remember an Arthur Wordsmith?" he enquired.

The butler brought his laptop over.

"You should know who he is, he is a moderately well known author," he explained. "The master and mistress were fans and invited him over for dinner once- you were too young to stay up late so you never met him. He was very shy and meek."

He pulled up a photo of the author and a list of his works. Ciel noted that all the books were in the crime genre. A sudden thought struck him.

"Has he ever written a book about a double murder and a fire?"

Tanaka's eyes widened, understanding the significance. "That is a good point. He did seem like the type that would do that."

A few moments later Ciel had the answer to his question.

"He released a book a few months ago about a Count and a Countess that were brutally murdered in their own home which was then set on fire to hide the evidence," Tanaka summarised. "You may be right about him being the murderer this time."

It did indeed fit his profile. Wordsmith had a motive, now they had to check if there was any evidence. An author would be likely to have evidence of their inspiration documented somewhere.

"Where does he live?" he asked excitedly.

"Unlike the previous suspects with their mansions, he lives in a small house in Chelsea so it should be easier. There will be less chance of being caught on CCTV," Mey-Rin showed him an aerial view.

"There will be less space to hide though," Tanaka pointed out.

The leader of the trio considered it meticulously. The presence of Sebastian Michaelis was a danger as well as the small scale of the property. Matters would be easier if Sebastian was absent for the heist which he wouldn't be of his own accord.

"Do you think we could get away with slipping a diuretic into his lunch?" he said out loud and was brought back to reality by Tanaka.

"That would make him even more suspicious of us," he scoffed. "We should not give him any more cause for suspicion. We should plan everything properly before rushing into hasty decisions like trying to give Michaelis a case of diarrhoea."

With that decided they agreed to meet the following evening at Tanaka's flat to discuss progress as they would not be able to do anything during work hours with Sebastian prowling around the office.

* * *

Ciel found Sebastian in the office before him the next morning and he immediately felt tension between then. Sebastian had been in the middle of writing on the whiteboard and there was a stack of files on the table next to him. The sight of a nearly empty coffee cup next to that, hinted that he had been there for quite some time.

"Did you get up early?" Ciel asked politely and sat down at his desk, feeling worried about the result of Sebastian's investigations.

"I merely wanted to start solving the case as quickly as possible," was Sebastian's answer.

Ciel glared at Sebastian's back. The man was annoying as he was clever. Reluctantly he had to admit that he wasn't bad looking though. He shook his head to banish the complimentary thoughts he had just had about Sebastian.

"I have found a few things of significance," he continued on. "Should I wait for the others to arrive? Or do they usually arrive late?"

"Mey-Rin should be getting my tea."

The last thing he had expected was for Sebastian to turn around and frown at him after he had said that. Perhaps Sebastian liked Mey-Rin more than he had let on the previous day and thought it was mean of Ciel to order her to make tea.

"Her tea is not well made," Sebastian sighed. "She made me some yesterday and I didn't enjoy it. My tea is much better."

Ciel stared at him in surprise. It was such an unexpected comment that it took several seconds to formulate a reply. Tea making was the last thing he had expected to be Sebastian's hobby.

"Are you offering to make me tea?" he asked playfully.

It was Sebastian's turn to stare at him strangely.

"I won't make you any until you do something to redeem yourself. Until then, enjoy Mey-Rin's tea."

As if on cue Mey-Rin entered the office balancing Ciel's tea in one hand and her handbag in the other and Tanaka slipped in behind her. Ciel chose Mey-Rin to make his tea at work because he had no idea to make it himself and she made it the same way as Tanaka so he had no genuine problem with it. Obviously Sebastian considered his tea making to be on a whole new level and liked bragging. If Ciel had allowed him to continue on, he would have probably boasted that he was one hell of a tea maker.

"I have your tea," she announced and blushed when she spotted Sebastian.

Ciel barely had a chance to drink it before Sebastian started his lecture. He ordered them to sit around one table and to take notes. Ciel could not protest because it would look suspicious if he was too resistant to the idea of solving the case."

"To begin with, we should give the thief a name. Does anyone have any ideas?"

"Black Phantom," Mey-Rin suggested.

"Kuro Kaitou," was Tanaka's suggestion.

"Kaitou Kid," Ciel said and realised his mistake. He had just mentioned the name of the main character of the manga series he had taken the concept of a phantom thief from. He winced and waited to see if Sebastian would notice the link.

Unfortunately for Ciel, he had. "I had been wondering if anyone would suggest that name. I thought it would be Ciel because he is the most childish. So, your research for catching him involved reading manga?"

Ciel opened his mouth to protest that he had read it before the thief had ever appeared, but Tanaka cut in and Ciel realised his almost slip up.

"Inspector Michaelis, please get to the point instead of goading Ciel."

The Chief Inspector cursed Sebastian silently. He had been nearly caught again. Admitting that he had read a series that had been clearly used for inspiration before the phantom thief had even existed was a giveaway. It was lucky that Tanaka was more watchful and on the alert than him.

"I think we should call him Black Phantom," Sebastian changed the subject adroitly. "Now we can properly start."

He turned to write on the whiteboard and Tanaka and Mey-Rin took the opportunity to send warning glances at Ciel, indicating that he should keep his mouth shut.

"There are some common factors behind the heists so far. Firstly, they are all private residences of the rich, but nothing is ever reported missing by the owners. What do you think this indicates, Ciel?"

The phantom thief blinked and desperately tried to decide between appearing to be an idiot or appearing too knowledgeable. For the sake of not spending his future in prison he went for the first option.

"I don't know."

Sebastian tutted. "How did you get to the rank of Chief Inspector with your skills? It means he really didn't steal anything or he stole something that the owners don't want to report."

"Well, what would that be then?" Ciel demanded, annoyedly having spotted a chance to get revenge.

"I haven't quite worked that out yet," his rival admitted. "Moving on, Black Phantom appears to know a lot about the locations he steals from."

"That just shows that he cases the location first," Tanaka interrupted.

Their usual procedure was to briefly pass by the house and survey the surroundings and to do the proper casing under the guise of a Police visit.

"At one heist he used a complex escape route that required prior knowledge or a floor plan so I became curious about that. I found the floor plans in the files and I wondered if the thief somehow had access to them," he frowned. "I am probably going too far with this point, it's all conjecture. The next point was-"

Ciel was no longer listening. Sebastian was getting too close to the truth for comfort. He had to work out how to deal with him soon before he ended up being caught out with undeniable evidence.

* * *

**It is probably obvious which manga Ciel used as inspiration but can anyone identify it? It begins with an M.**


	3. Third Sighting

**Moonlit Meetings:**

**Chapter 3:**

2 weeks later:

It was the day of the heist and Ciel had a plan of sorts as well as various back up plans in case everything went wrong. He had a small vial of chloroform in his pocket in the event that Sebastian did manage to get in the way of his escape route.

They were all at the Wordsmith residence waiting until the time that Black Phantom had stated in his notice. When the note had arrived Sebastian had been very excited and had spent several days concocting ways to catch him. Naturally he had had to inform the other members of the team so Ciel had developed a plan around Sebastian's.

They and a couple of officers from another department were all to be stationed at all the likely entrances to the house which were limited and Sebastian had also placed video cameras in the rooms they couldn't cover. Ciel's phantom thief costume was currently concealed in a giant vase in the living room where he had been placed.

Ciel was looking out the window at the full moon when Tanaka walked in.

"Are you here to give me a last minute warning to be careful?"

Instead Tanaka whispered something else in his ear. "I meant to tell you this earlier, but I can't find anything on Sebastian Michaelis."

"Why not? Could it be a fake name?"

Tanaka shook his head. "I found his birth certificate and it's right because it matches his current age, but there were no school or university records. There was nothing until he started Police training so we don't have anything to blackmail him with."

Ciel sighed. He had been hoping that Sebastian had done something blackmail worthy both personally and for his occupation. They would just have to focus on evading him for now.

"It's a shame," he pouted and cheered up on remembering where they were.

Wordsmith could be the murderer meaning that after tonight he could be finished with his night job. The man had seemed normal if a little shy when he and Sebastian had visited a few days ago.

"It's nice to see that some members of the investigation team have bonded so well, but it's 10 minutes to midnight so get to your positions," Sebastian ordered from the doorway. "Are your walkie talkies still working?"

Ciel and Tanaka checked and gave an affirmative.

"Good. There will be no excuse if any of you fail to alert me if you see the phantom thief then. Tanaka, hurry up and get to the hallway."

Tanaka and Sebastian left the room together leaving Ciel alone to count down on his watch.

"5,4,3,2,1."

At zero the lights went out and he opened the window, grabbed a rock he had hidden in the flowerbed beforehand, leaned out and threw it at the kitchen window which was opposite the room he was in due to the shape of the house. Mey-Rin was positioned in the kitchen and she raised the alarm when the window smashed.

Ciel quickly pulled on his outfit over his clothes and ran through the house to the study. He didn't encounter anyone on his way as Mey-Rin and Tanaka were directing Sebastian and the other officers elsewhere over the walkie talkies.

Once he reached the study, he found Sebastian's camera by the red light and turned it off and muted his walkie talkie and began the search.

He hurriedly rifled through the drawers in the desk and pulled them out when he couldn't find anything. Affixed with masking tape underneath one of the drawers was a notebook. Ciel took it and approached the bookshelf. The room was well lit by the moonlight so he didn't need to turn on the torch in his pocket. He felt along the spines, checking for anomalies. He felt a strange dip and he discovered a thin scrapbook in between two books. He purloined it and moved along to the next row; he couldn't afford to leave anything out.

He had almost finished when the door crashed open and someone shone a bright light in his face.

"Stop right there!" Sebastian shouted.

Ciel froze very briefly as his brain went into overdrive calculating his escape. He had to get close to Sebastian to use the chloroform and getting closer was risky. He would have to distract him somehow and the key was to act confident and unruffled.

Ciel made sure his mask on properly and he turned to face Sebastian directly, trying not to wince at the bright light.

"You must be a new member of the team trying to arrest me. It's nice to meet you, he said, making sure to pitch his voice higher.

He saw Sebastian tighten his grip on the torch, but he didn't step closer which was an encouraging sign.

"You cannot actually arrest me though, I have never technically stolen anything."

"You are trespassing and causing destruction to private property," Sebastian replied evenly and took a step closer. "You can stop with the distractions, all I have to do is alert everyone else and hold you down until they come."

Ciel knew he couldn't stall by talking anymore so he did the first thing that came to mind. When he thought about it later on, he passed it off as a moment of madness because he walked towards Sebastian and touched his cheek with one gloved hand and whispered;

"You cannot call for back up if your mouth is covered."

One part of his brain observed Sebastian's wide eyes and dilated pupils and his loose gip on the torch, showing that he had no current plans to call for backup and the other part of his brain made him actually press his lips to Sebastian's.

He snapped back to reality the moment he did and so despite his wish not to be kissing Sebastian, he remained in the same position and prepared the chloroform with his free hand. He drew back, momentarily enjoyed the sight of a speechless Sebastian and pressed the chloroformed cloth to his nose. Ciel was kind enough to catch his rival as he fell and deposited him gently on the floor.

He heard the sound of familiar footsteps and he called out for his accomplices. Tanaka and Mey-Rin nearly tripped on Sebastian on their way in.

"He started ignoring our directions and ran off somewhere else," Mey-Rin explained breathlessly.

"I've dealt with it now. I need to take this costume off before everyone else comes up here. You two stay here," he ordered and ran off to take off his costume before the officers running around the house saw him.

He stripped off his costume in a dark corner and hid it in his bag in the hallway and rejoined the others in the study with a bottle of water.

"What is the water for?" Tanaka asked.

Ciel answered the question by pouring it on Sebastian's unconscious face. It would look suspicious if they waited too long to wake him up. Sebastian's eyelids twitched and fluttered and Ciel helpfully poured more water on him. He jerked awake after that.

"Where's the thief?" he questioned groggily, trying to sit up.

"He wasn't here when we got here and no one saw him on their route here," Tanaka told him. "Should we take you for a check up at the hospital?"

Sebastian sat up slowly and felt around the back up his head cautiously.

"I haven't hit my head so I'll be fine," he looked at Ciel who was still holding the water bottle. "Thank you for waking me up."

"Anytime," Ciel replied sweetly., his heart rate finally returning to normal now that everything was back in place and he hadn't been caught. "Why were you unconscious? Did you faint with fright after seeing Black Phantom?"

"Of course I didn't," Sebastian retorted. "...He knocked me out ."

Thankfully Sebastian didn't mention anything about what had happened before he had been chloroformed so Ciel did not have any awkward questions from Tanaka later on. The trio returned home early in the morning without being arrested. 

* * *

 

On the other hand Sebastian returned home completely confused. Why had the thief kissed him and why had he let him? He should have pushed him away and handcuffed him so the case would have been finished there and then. Instead he had let the opportunity slip away. That wasn't like him.

He went through his encounter with the thief. Black Phantom had not been too bothered by his presence and had even gone as far to greet him. He had deduced that the thief was trying to distract him and then he had been kissed and chloroformed whilst he had been distracted. He really had been conned.

One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to mention it in his report of the heist. Although it was not his fault that he had been kissed and tricked, the last thing he needed was for someone to get hold of the report and pass the information around. His high success rate and promotions had made some enemies. He had entered Scotland Yard for a specific reason and he was not going to let some thief that wore a cape stand in his way and ruin his success rate and future promotions.

Catching the notorious thief would be sure to result in a promotion and he would be closer to his goal and he could finally do what he wanted.

A sudden thought came to him. Ciel Durless' reports from heists had always been very vague and brief. Had he been seduced by the phantom thief before? That would explain his unwillingness to do anything that could lead to Black Phantom's capture. He needed to find out the truth about that as it could be a lead in solving the case.

 


	4. Fourth Sighting

**Moonlit Meetings:**

**Chapter 4:**

The next day at work was tiring for everyone involved. Ciel hadn't slept at all due to the memory of kissing his rival. Sebastian has also experienced a sleepless night, haunted by being tricked by Black Phantom.

It took Ciel a few hours to notice that Sebastian kept looking over at him and then looking down again when their eyes met. He began to worry that Sebastian had managed to work out that he was Black Phantom after their kiss. The thought caused him to blush unwillingly and he hated himself for that. Sebastian Michaelis was simply good looking and extremely annoying so he shouldn't be blush worthy at all. He found Sebastian looking at him again.

"Do I have something on my face?" he asked.

"No, " Sebastian answered shortly and returned to writing his report.

Ciel was sure that Sebastian was never going to mention their kiss in the report and that was what was taking him so long as he was trying to create a plausible explanation for being incapacitated.

"You have been taking a long time to write a report about what happened last night. Do you need any help?"

"Yours didn't take too long to write because you didn't do anything last night," Sebastian argued. "I am the one that almost caught him."

"I've had contact with him before," Ciel snapped back.

Tanaka sensed incoming danger and took action before his master could inadvertently let something slip again. Arguments between Sebastian and Ciel were proving to be hazardous so far.

"Sebastian was chloroformed yesterday and still looks sleepy, let him write up his report in peace."

After that Ciel remained quiet for the rest of the day, still wondering why he had kissed Sebastian. The idea had worked, but he certainly was not planning on implementing it again. There was only one person that he could discuss matters like that with. His best and only friend Alois Trancy. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone else about his alter ego, however he had told Alois so he could have someone to talk about it with that was not Tanaka or Mey-Rin. He could call Alois later and air the matter with him.

* * *

The evidence that Ciel had found was not discussed until they all reached Tanaka's flat. The former butler pulled out the scrapbook and notebook from under the sofa cushions and made tea.

Ciel was keen to know the contents as it would determine whether or not he would have to continue with his search for his parents' murderer using different methods. He waited patiently until Tanaka had served tea and they were all seated around the table.

"Is he the murderer?" he questioned eagerly.

"The contents of the books you picked out were very intriguing. I only had time for a brief look this morning so I am not sure of the answer to that question," the older man informed him. "There is something that is clear though, his latest book was based on the Phantomhive murder."

He slid the scrapbook to Ciel who opened it and was confronted by a newspaper cutout detailing his parents' murder glued to the page. He flipped through all the pages to find they were all newspaper reports about the same thing. Some articles were annotated in rushed writing. The annotations matched details from the novel Wordsmith had written.

Misgivings about Wordsmith being the person they were looking for began to flood him. The murderer would have known how they were killed and would not have needed to read newspapers for research to write about a similar murder. A majority of the articles from the time of the case and some were from later years, mainly anniversaries of the case. The murder had remained unsolved by the Police due to the dire lack of suspects. Or rather all the likely suspects were rich or tied to the government so no one had wanted to accuse them of murder.

"What is the other notebook?" Mey-Rin asked curiously. "It looks like a diary."

"It is a diary of some sort," Tanaka told her. "I have not finished it yet, but it revealed that he is not the murderer we are looking for."

Upon hearing that Ciel's shoulders slumped in disappointment. Yet another dead end. He rested his head on the table and sulked. Wordsmith's novel was simply a coincidence and was not directly related to his parents' murder.

"Actually it appears that he was trying to solve the murder himself," the older man continued on. "His list of suspects is practically the same as ours."

Ciel perked up and he took the diary from Tanaka and read it with interest. Wordsmith has been investigating the same suspects as him and had encountered similar problems as them regarding trying to find evidence.

"He wrote the book that was obviously based on my parents' murder and sent previews to all the suspects to see how they would react," Ciel said once he had reached an important page. "That is an unique idea."

"You're the one that came up with the idea of a phantom thief," Mey-Rin pointed out. "What reactions did he get?"

Ciel turned the page to check. "Most ignored it and a few sent a reply."

He found the letters folded neatly on the next page and arranged them on the table. Tanaka and Mey-Rin crowded around him for a closer look. Tanaka picked one out at random.

"This person sent a reply to ask why he had been sent the preview. There aren't any threats here."

Mey-Rin peered closer at another one. "This one suggests that it would be a bad idea to publish it because it has not been too long since the murder. There aren't any specific threats implied either."

The one to pinpoint the one they were looking for was Ciel.

"This letter says it would be dangerous if the book was published because there could be legal action. He says he will do all he can to do to prevent the book from being published for the sake of the surviving relatives. There is even money offered; it sounds extremely like a bribe," he read through the rest of the letter and stopped when he reached the name of the sender. "Yours sincerely, Ash Landers."

"That name sounds familiar," Mey-Rin frowned.

"It does," Tanaka agreed. "It's on the list of the suspects, but it's one that Angelina added, not me."

Ciel stared at the name on the letter. Had he finally found the person he had been wanting to take revenge on?

"All we can do for the moment is investigate Ash Landers. if we assume that this evidence is the conclusive proof of his guilt, then we have found the murderer meaning we have to proceed carefully," Tanaka said. "We need to move onto the problem of Sebastian Michaelis."

Ciel turned to look at Tanaka sharply. He had a point. If they did end up doing a heist at Ash Lander's house, wherever he lived, Sebastian would be a problem. He had also sworn to himself that he would never use kissing as a diversion again for the sake of his embarrassment and because it would never work on Sebastian again. There was the additional problem of a lack of background information on him.

"We managed to get away last time somehow," the butler cast Ciel a look and he knew that Tanaka had guessed what his distraction method had been. "Next time we might not be so lucky. If he thinks hard about it, the only suspect that fits the criteria is you. I was of the opinion that we could provide him with another suspect."

"Who?" Ciel was completely confused. The criteria Sebastian had were a lack of height and a manga fan. "Wait-"

He knew one other person that matched those attributes.

"I have noticed that your friend Alois is about the same height as you without those high heeled boots he wears. If I remember correctly, he is the one that got you into manga.

Ciel could understand where Tanaka was going with that idea. Sooner or later Sebastian was going to come to the conclusion that Ciel was the only person that could be the thief. Therefore another potential suspect was needed.

"Yes, that is true," he acknowledged. "However it would mean bringing another person into this and Sebastian may end up arresting him."

"If Trancy does not agree to it we will continue as normal, if he does agree then it is his own decision. Make sure he is clear on everything first before he agrees."

* * *

As Ciel had suspected Alois agreed quickly the idea, saying that he was willing to do anything to prevent his best friend from being caught and arrested. Ciel suspected it was because Alois wanted to meet the person he had kissed.

The plan for having Sebastian meet Alois relied on Ciel walking out of Scotland Yard with him, meaning he had to wait for the other officer to leave. It became obvious once 5 o'clock arrived that Sebastian was intending on staying late. Tanaka and Mey-Rin left slightly after 5 like usual to give an impression of normality.

Ciel occupied himself with reading all the newspaper reports about the heist. The tabloid write ups were always the most amusing to read, especially if you knew what had really happened. Sebastian passed the time compiling a list of the common factors between all the heists and found it strange that Ciel was still there. He normally left as soon as possible.

"Have you changed your mind about your work ethic?"

He answered his own question by checking what Ciel was actually doing.

"Perhaps. I am more concerned about your well being. It's not good to constantly work overtime," internally Ciel was cringing at having to act like he cared. "You should go home and go to bed early."

Sebastian checked his watch and remembered his sleepless night. He probably should go home. He ended up walking out of the building with his superior officer who was acting out of the ordinary by showing concern for him health and complimenting him on his work.

The phantom thief breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Alois outside. Making small talk with Sebastian was quite challenging.

"Ciel!" the blonde called out. "You're late."

Ciel watched as Sebastian looked closer at his friend who was wearing his usual outlandish clothing and footwear. Alois tended to dress in an eye catching manner meaning that Sebastian's attention was definitely on him.

"I didn't know I was supposed to be meeting you," he apologised.

"I just wanted to know if you had finished with my manga books. You said you needed them for work."

As planned Ciel produced the relevant books out of his back pack and made sure Sebastian could see the titles when he handed them over. He knew his rival had seen the significance when he smiled at Ciel and asked to be introduced to his friend.

"This is Alois Trancy," Ciel informed him. "He has been my best friend since secondary school."

"Nice to meet you," Sebastian flashed a disarming smile and his eyes travelled down to Alois' boots. "Your fashion choices are interesting."

Ciel knew that Sebastian had taken the bait. "He likes to act like he is taller than me when he is really the same height."

Sebastian checked and realised they were indeed the same height. Cogs began to turn in his mind. Alois Trancy was short in height and was a manga fan. He could potentially be the phantom thief. He could also be getting information from Ciel to help him. Had Ciel been seduced into betraying the Police?


	5. Fifth Sighting

**Moonlit Meeting:**

**Chapter 5:**

Once he was in his study at home, Sebastian considered the investigation carefully. He put all of his notes on the previous heists aside and took down the photos he had of the phantom thief on his pin board. He needed to focus on the current facts.

Alois Trancy was the perfect suspect that had just popped up out of nowhere. If he really was the criminal they were looking for, the circumstances had to be one out of two scenarios.

One, Alois Trancy was the thief and Chief Inspector Ciel Durless was his accomplice that cleared the way for him at heists and removed any incriminating evidence.

Two, Alois Trancy was the thief and Chief Inspector Ciel Durless was unknowingly passing on information about heists to his best friend, unaware of what the information was being used for.

The first theory explained why Ciel was as useful as a paper cutout at heists and why no evidence was ever found. The scene of crime officers had yet to send their forensic report of the latest heist location so he was using past heists as precedence.

Heists would be much simpler if you had someone on the inside to make sure your routes were clear and to tell you where all the officers were positioned. A member of the investigation team would also be able to tell the criminal all the potential points of entry.

So far the most likely option was the Alois Trancy was the thief and Ciel was his inside man and was fully aware of his best friend's alter ego. He didn't have any actual evidence to support his theory. He couldn't arrest either of them on circumstantial evidence.

Another question came to him. Why was Ciel helping out a criminal to that extent? He was in a dangerous position because if he was caught, he would get a long prison sentence. His experience in criminal cases provided him with three options: Ciel was blindly in love with Trancy and would do anything for him; he was being blackmailed into it meaning he was an unwilling participant or he was being bribed with a large sum of money.

The avenues of investigation open to him were to seduce Alois Trancy or work on Ciel Durless. He rather preferred the latter option as he was sure that he detested Trancy for some reason. Possibly it was the idea that he had been the one to kiss and trick him at the heist.

Ciel was the more attractive option due to the fact that he actually knew him and would be able to talk him without him getting suspicious. He would have to avoid Tanaka though. The older man seemed to be very protective of Ciel and regularly broke up their arguments.

If he got the impression that Ciel was in love with Trancy, he could simply mention that he had been kissed by the phantom thief at heist and wait for Ciel to get annoyed with Trancy and incriminate him.

He spent the remainder of the evening going through the footage from all of his cameras used at the heist. He used the timestamps to work out the thief's route through the house. The thief had chosen the perfect route free from Police officers who were running around a different part of the house. The thief had efficiently turned off the camera in the study once he had entered which suggested two things: the thief was observant and had realised the significance of a red light glowing in the darkness or had already known it was there. Sebastian was prepared to bet it was the latter.

That would mean that there was a leak in the investigation team and he was sure that it was Ciel. He was the member with the most inconsistencies in his behaviour. He had been a hardworking officer with a good track record until he entered the investigation team where he spent all day playing games instead of investigating. Tanaka and Mey-Rin had medium successes with previous cases, hence the fact they were under the leadership of a smarter and more successful officer. He doubted that they were involved with the phantom thief themselves. It would be impossible for someone to have control over all three members of the investigation team.

It never entered his mind that one member had control over the other two.

He decided that the key to the investigation was Ciel Durless. He would have to tread carefully as he had noticed that Ciel strongly disliked him and would think it highly strange if Sebastian started acting friendly all of a sudden.

In the end he chose a method that he believed would not raise any suspicion.

* * *

Of course Ciel was fully aware that Sebastian was planning to use him to gain information about Alois Trancy and was looking forward to seeing how Sebastian would approach him. It would be much more amusing if he wasn't concerned about Sebastian arresting Alois. He told himself that there would never be enough evidence against Alois for him to be arrested.

Whilst he was busy in the office reading the forensic report, a cup of tea entered his field of sight and he looked up to see Sebastian holding a cup of tea.

"Do you remember that I told you I would never make you any tea unless you redeemed yourself?"

Ciel nodded slowly, now seeing where Sebastian was going with this.

"Since you redeemed yourself by waking me up at the heist, here is your tea."

Ciel accepted the tea doubtfully and took an experimental sip, not expecting anything different from when he drank tea made by Tanaka or Mey-Rin. The ratio of milk and tea was perfect for once and he sighed happily despite himself.

"Do you like it? I am one hell of a tea maker if I do say so myself."

"It's not too bad," Ciel admitted and finished the cup, expecting Sebastian to leave. "Yes?"

Sebastian smiled at him. "Would you like to do something with me tonight?"

Ciel was surprised,he hadn't predicted Sebastian would go for a straightforward approach like that which worried him. If he couldn't predict that, he might not see something else coming.

"Do you mean something like a date?" he asked cautiously.

Sebastian smirked. "No. I wasn't asking you on a date, I wanted you to help me with something here at the office later. If you behave, I'll make you some more tea."

The thief flushed. He had jumped to the wrong conclusion. He had assumed Sebastian was asking him on a date so he could flirt with him and slip in a few questions about Alois whilst he was off guard.

"Yes," he agreed to it, forgetting to ask what they would actually be doing.

Ciel and Tanaka had a short covert conversation in the toilets later on to discuss the progress in their distract Sebastian Michaelis plan.

"Do you remember everything I warned you about?" Tanaka enquired. "You must take this seriously. The consequences are not pleasant for any of us if it goes wrong."

Ciel nodded. "I must not drink any alcohol tonight as I have a low tolerance, I must not get into any arguments with him and I must watch what I say."

Tanaka patted him comfortingly on the shoulder and they left the toilets together. Tanaka paused outside the office to ask a question that had been bothering him all day.

"Is his tea really better than mine?"

"Yes," Ciel said honestly. "He probably brought his own tea here though."

Ciel found out later on what Sebastian had in store for them to do together. As soon as Tanaka and Mey-Rin had left, Sebastian dumped a pile of memory cards on his desk and told him to splice all of the camera footage together to get a full video of the phantom thief from the heist.

It definitely was not a date.

Whilst Ciel was trawling through all the memory cards Sebastian was watching him closely to observe his reactions whenever he saw the thief. There was a chance that he would react in a way that would give away how close he was to the thief.

"I didn't know you had this many cameras," he grumbled as he copied the files from the twelfth memory card onto his computer. "I thought you only had six."

It was fortunate for Sebastian that he had not mentioned the extra ones otherwise there would be less sightings of the thief on video.

Ciel experienced a brief moment of panic that he had been caught on camera changing into or out of the phantom thief outfit and then remembered that he had checked for cameras on both occasions and he would have been arrested by now, not sitting in the office with his rival.

"I didn't claim expenses from the budget if that's what you are worried about."

That hasn't been Ciel's concern, but it masked his real one and told him that Sebastian was very devoted to catching him.

An hour passed in silence as Ciel was determined to avoid getting into a disagreement with Sebastian and his rival was too engrossed in watching Ciel's face for a tell tale change in expression. So far he just looked annoyed at having to stay behind and actually do some work. Momentarily Sebastian wondered if Ciel had really wanted to go on a date with him. It had been his first idea that had been rejected on the grounds that Ciel would be too suspicious wouldn't be forthcoming with information.

Ciel's eyes were crossing over with tiredness as he watched a video, waiting for himself to appear. Most of the angles in the videos weren't very flattering to him so they were mildly embarrassing to watch. He was trying to keep a poker face as he was aware of Sebastian's eyes on him, but it was getting more difficult as he got sleepier. He perked up when he saw himself enter the frame, this time it was a flattering angle.

Sebastian spotted a tiny change in expression and tried to deduce what it meant. Considering Ciel's lack of facial expression so far his idea had not gone well and he had noted that he was now looking fatigued so the change in expression probably meant that he was nearly finished with the task. He would have to approach Ciel using different tactics next time.

"I'll make you some tea," he said and left the room.

When he returned he found that Ciel had fallen asleep with his head on the desk. Sebastian softened at the sight. Ciel looked much better when he was asleep due to the fact his face was relaxed and he wasn't glaring or scowling for once. He set the teacup down gently.

"I made you tea."

"...Thanks," Ciel slurred sleepily, not actually asleep yet.

This gave Sebastian an idea. He had never expected to hear Ciel thank him, indicating that he was more truthful when he was sleepy.

"Have you ever met the phantom thief?"

"...Yes," Ciel said sleepily.

This matched the report of a previous heist where an account of Ciel's contact with the phantom thief was documented.

"Is he good looking?" Sebastian moved on.

"...I think so."

Sebastian had found what he was looking for.

"How do you know if he wears a mask?"


	6. Sixth Sighting

**Moonlit Meetings:**

**Chapter 6:**

Was this it? Had Ciel given definitive proof that he had seen the phantom thief's real face? He waited eagerly with bated breath for Ciel's reply to the question. When it came he was severely disappointed.

"...Short people are good looking so of course he's good looking," Ciel's sleepy voice petered out into a snore.

At that moment Sebastian experienced a strong desire to wring Ciel's neck. What kind of answer was that? He had underestimated him. Ciel was not going to give up information regarding his best friend that easily and was more likely to give infuriatingly annoying answers.

He picked up the teacup again and placed it down with force onto the desk right by Ciel's head causing him to jerk awake with a fright.

"Here is your tea," he said with a forced smile, feeling the opposite inside.

Ciel rubbed his eyes and looked down at the cup, seeming to take a while to process it due to his sleepiness.

"How long was I asleep for?" he yawned.

"Only ten minutes. Did you finish doing what I asked for?"

"Almost," Ciel answered with a yawn. "I don't even know why I agreed to it anyway; I'm your superior officer."

Sebastian checked and found that Ciel had been telling the truth. It also proved that he could work hard when he wanted to which suggested that he had not found any clues on the phantom thief because he didn't want to and not because he could not.

"You agreed because you secretly enjoy spending time with me," Sebastian retorted.

Ciel snorted and didn't reply. He disliked being in Sebastian's presence because he felt nervous about a lethal slip up that would result in his arrest.

"Since you nearly finished, you can go home now," his rival continued on. "I will finish it myself."

Ciel nodded and yawned again. Tanaka and Mey-Rin were waiting at home for him, ready to start planning the next heist and to discuss what Sebastian had asked Ciel about. Tanaka had been very concerned about what could have happened tonight.

* * *

"How did your date with Sebastian go?" Mey-Rin asked cheerfully once he returned.

She took the hint when he glared instead of answering."So it wasn't a date then?"

"It was definitely  _not_  a date," he emphasised firmly. "It was me doing his work for him."

Tanaka had left out a teapot wrapped in a tea cosy ready for his return and for once Ciel ignored it. The taste of Sebastian's tea was still in his mouth and he didn't want to taint it.

"Did you watch your words and avoid arguments?" Tanaka immediately asked when Ciel flopped down on the sofa.

"So much that we barely talked and I fell asleep."

"You know what you are like when you fall asleep," Tanaka groaned. "I hope he didn't ask you any questions."

Ciel thought back to earlier that evening. It had been cunning of Sebastian to notice that he was more inclined to tell the truth when he was half asleep just so he could get some peace. Unfortunately for Sebastian, Ciel had woken up fully halfway through the interrogation and had deliberately given a nonsensical answer.

"That was a dangerous situation," the butler said when Ciel had finished explaining. "You probably infuriated him greatly as a result so he is not likely to attempt that approach again."

"He might ask me on a date for real this time," Ciel smirked, wondering what it would involve.

He lost his amusement when Tanaka told him to act serious. Tanaka was right. Tonight they were supposed to be discussing how to break into Ash Landers's house, not what a potential date between Ciel and Sebastian would involve.

"Angelina gave us some information regarding the Landers' household and she is due back tomorrow. We are going to have to plan this one very carefully," Tanaka warned. "Angelina said there is CCTV everywhere and it's in a gated community so any passerbys look very out of place."

Ciel reflected on their previous heists. There had been challenges for each one, however they had always been able to overcome them together like when Tanaka had drugged the cats at one heist so Ciel wouldn't get a sneezing fit that could impede him and when Mey-Rin had feigned clumsiness and knocked a vase on top of another officer when Ciel was being chased. It was only fitting that their final heist would be the most complex.

"Apparently there's a psycho dog there called Pluto," Mey-Rin added. "He belongs to the wife."

The idea of being chased around by a stark raving mad dog was not a pleasurable prospect for Ciel. He considered the idea of swapping with Mey-Rin or Tanaka so they could be the phantom thief instead, but that wasn't fair; he had to take the risk himself as it was his parents' deaths that he was avenging and he would get the heaviest sentence if they were caught.

"It seems as if the only way to get any information would be under the guise of the Police," Ciel commented.

* * *

"Has everyone read the forensic report of the state of Mr. Wordsmith's residence after the heist?" Sebastian began the briefing the following day.

He had taken in upon himself to do everything that Ciel should be doing as head of the team as Ciel clearly had no intention of catching the thief so he had to do it himself instead. There were nods all around so he carried on.

"Two pieces of evidence were left behind this time. They were a wig fibre and a wool fibre that was caught on a window frame. The thief exited out the window in the living room as shown by the window being left open and the fibre. What does the evidence being left behind tell us?"

"He left in a hurry because he almost got caught by Sebastian and didn't have a chance to clear up any evidence," Ciel suggested.

"That was my theory," Sebastian agreed. "The wig fibre is very specific as it is not a fibre used in typical wigs so it could be tracked down if we get a list of suppliers that sell wigs with those fibres."

"Is that what you want us to do today?" Tanaka enquired.

"Yes. We could end up with the name and address of the phantom thief this way. Do you have a problem with that, Ciel?"

He suddenly changed the focus of the conversation towards Ciel to see how he would react. Much to his disappointment Ciel looked unperturbed at the potential lead the forensic evidence could provide meaning he was keeping a poker face or the evidence would not lead anywhere definitive.

They spent most of morning looking up suppliers of wigs and researching if they sold wigs constructed of the fibre. A long list of results was produced between the four of them with ten being in London and two in the direct vicinity.

"I'm going to visit the nearest suppliers," Sebastian announced after lunch. "Ciel, you're coming with me."

"Why do I have to?" Ciel complained, not keen on the idea of being alone with Sebastian again.

"So you can burn off all that cake you ate at lunchtime," his rival retorted. "Hurry up or we will end up working overtime."

Ciel only had time to exchange a fearful glance with Tanaka before Sebastian picked up Ciel's coat for him and handed it to him.

He cursed Sebastian in his head. He had not planned on this. Not that it mattered. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut. The pair visited one supplier and obtained a list of names and addresses of people that had purchased a wig in the same colour that Black Phantom wore without any trouble.

The phantom thief himself was beginning to relax as Sebastian hadn't tried to make any conversation with him until he directed the car into a non moving line of cars. Due to the fact that the road was one way, they couldn't turn around so they were stuck until the cars started to move meaning that Ciel had no escape if Sebastian started interrogating him.

"I forgot that traffic is bad at this time," Sebastian said casually and turned the engine off.

Ciel peered into the distance only to see cars stuck in the same position and then looked back to see someone in an official fluorescent jacket walking down the queue of cars that looked like a Police traffic officer.

"I think there's been an accident."

He looked again and saw the traffic officer up close. They were female with blonde curly hair parted into pigtails. When she approached closer he recognised who she was. He instantly got out the car and rushed over to her, extremely eager to escape from spending time in a confined space with Sebastian.

"Lizzie!" he shouted.

"Ciel!" she pulled him into a hug. "I haven't seen you since last month. How is the investigation going? I saw all the negative press."

"Never mind that," he brushed away her question as Lizzie was unaware of his alter ego. "Is the holdup due to an accident?"

"We've nearly finished moving the wreckage out the way," she told him. "The traffic should start moving in about twenty minutes."

That was good. He could manage twenty minutes stuck in traffic with Sebastian.

"Who are you with? I thought Mey-Rin and Tanaka were investigating with you," Lizzie had spotted Sebastian.

"New member," Ciel explained and decided it was better not to explain that they were on bad terms. "We get on well."

"Should I say hello?" she asked. "He is staring very intently at us."

It would look suspicious if he told her not to so he agreed and left to check the progress of the removal to minimise the time he would have to spend with Sebastian.

Sebastian stared at the blonde curiously. Was she Ciel's girlfriend? The hug indicated that they were close and he had never seen Ciel run that fast before. He was either very happy to see her or wanted to get away from him or a combination of both.

"I'm Lizzie Midford," she said politely. "You must be Ciel's new friend."

He was momentarily taken aback by being called Ciel's friend and he realised that Ciel must have misled her for some reason.

"I'm Sebastian Michaelis," he replied. "How are you acquainted with Ciel?"

"I'm his cousin."

He tried to work out a way to use her as a way to get information on Ciel or Alois Trancy and he had to do it quickly as he could see Ciel returning. In the end he chose to obtain information on the main suspect.

"Do you know Alois' address? He invited me over later and I kind of forgot where he lives."

As he predicted she saw no reason to be suspicious as she thought the three of them were all new friends and she recited it to him. He would cross check in later with the addresses they had. Lizzie had just finished when Ciel arrived back from checking the progress of the removal.

"It's nearly finished," he informed them.

He was about to get in the passenger side when Lizzie waylaid him and pulled him away from the car.

"Do you want my family to come over like usual for the anniversary?" she asked quietly. "It's been fifteen years since their deaths."

Usually Ciel's family visited on the anniversaries of his parents' deaths and he didn't mind it because he always felt lonely on that day,

"Of course," he replied before remembering that Sebastian might be able to hear them. He cast a worried glance and noticed that Sebastian was looking the opposite way and they were too far away anyway for him to hear them.

He was partially right. Sebastian hadn't heard them, he had just read their lips and had understood the conversation.


	7. Seventh Sighting

**Moonlit Meetings:**

**Chapter 7:**

Ciel was noticeably muted for the rest of the day and didn't even respond to Sebastian offering him tea. He was too worried. There was a slight chance that Sebastian would remember Lizzie's surname and trace her family tree and notice some inconsistencies regarding her cousin Ciel Durless. He had only realised it once they had returned to Scotland Yard.

There was no birth certificate for a Ciel Durless, instead there was one for a Ciel Phantomhive. Deep in his mind he felt there was a greater significance to that as if someone else could have a similar inconsistency, but he had more important things to worry about so he dismissed it.

He also had to worry about what Sebastian had asked Lizzie. He had asked her to relate their conversation and she had. Sebastian had been interested in Alois' address which ultimately would not lead anywhere as the wig Ciel used had gone through several addresses before reaching Mey-Rin's. There was no harm there which was why he had allowed the clue to be found, however he felt that Sebastian as closing in on him.

This meant that they needed to carry out the heist on Ash Landers' house as soon as possible. Their problem was a lack of information about the interior. His aunt who had provided some information, hadn't been there to a party there for 13 years. That could mean that the psycho dog was no longer alive which made it slightly more appealing to Ciel. Alternatively it could mean there was even more security.

The only thing they could do was send the notice and visit as members of the investigation team. The potential problem with that was that Sebastian could notice that they were casing the property rather than taking notes on how to guard it.

It had been Ciel's intention to leave immediately after work had ended and meet up with his aunt, Mey-Rin and Tanaka later to explain his worries and then to contact Alois to warn him about Sebastian. He had a feeling that Alois wasn't taking it seriously. His plan was ruined by Sebastian accosting him at the door.

"What do you want?" Ciel demanded.

"I am aware that you don't like me, but can we have a serious conversation?" Sebastian requested.

That was the last thing Ciel wanted to do. He had spent most of the day trying to avoid talking to Sebastian. That said, it would seem suspicious if he out rightly refused to speak to Sebastian so he accepted.

"Let's do it somewhere else," his rival suggested. "Before you say anything, it is not a roundabout way of asking for a date."

The pair ended up in the canteen of Scotland Yard as neither wanted to spend long there and had other plans for the evening. Ciel screwed up his face in disgust when Sebastian insisted on getting tea there as he knew from past experience that it was a tasteless brown liquid. If Sebastian's intention was to torture him with tea then it definitely was not a date.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Ciel asked after taking an experimental sip of the tea to check it still tasted horrible.

"I have an interest in getting a promotion. If we caught and arrested the phantom thief we would all get promotions as a reward. There is a benefit in catching the phantom thief for everyone except the phantom thief," Sebastian explained.

He had decided it was time to tackle Ciel directly about the possibility that his friend was the phantom thief. It was a perfect opportunity. His superior officer had been distracted and worried all day and now he was annoyed with him for buying him foul tasting tea. It had been evident from past occasions that Ciel let things slip when he was annoyed.

"Is that so? I never thought about it that way," Ciel said in an uninterested tone.

"With your past experience you probably know the main motives for committing a crime," Sebastian laid the bait.

"Love, revenge, money or coercion," Ciel listed, not predicting where Sebastian was going with his point.

"What is your motive for helping out Alois Trancy? Or should I say, the phantom thief?"

Ciel emitted a small gasp of surprise before recovering and regaining a poker face.

"What are you talking about? I wouldn't help out a criminal," Ciel argued.

"If he is coercing you, I can help you out," Sebastian said gently, looking into Ciel's eyes to check if he had hit on the right motive.

"I am not being coerced," he protested and looked Sebastian right in the eye.

Undeterred, Sebastian tried again: "Are you in love with him?"

"No," Ciel denied without the slightest hint of a blush. "He is just my best friend."

Sebastian detected that Ciel was definitely telling the truth there and for some reason he found it relieving. The idea of a lovesick Ciel obeying Alois Trancy's orders was not pleasant for him to picture.

"Is he bribing you?" he moved on quickly.

"No," Ciel sighed, seemingly getting frustrated. "He wouldn't be able to anyway- he doesn't have enough disposable income to persuade me to betray the Police."

Again, his body language communicated that he was being truthful. Sebastian didn't ask about revenge as it didn't fit in anywhere.

"Why do you even think Alois is the phantom thief? He hadn't got the brains for-" Ciel broke off. "...Is it because he is short and likes manga?"

"Yes," Sebastian admitted reluctantly and dropped the subject. "Why did you join the Police?"

"Because I liked the idea of getting justice for people in need. I ended up being disillusioned later on. The rich and those with connections are impossible to arrest and can do anything they like, even murder people."

It was the first time that he had seen Ciel look intelligent and thoughful. His answer made Sebastian realise that they actually had something in common.

"That's why I joined too," Sebastian told him. "I can finally arrest those that bribe their way out of trouble."

They sat in an agreeable silence for a while until Ciel saw the time and made an excuse to hurry home.

* * *

**2 days later:**

Early in the morning of a wet and rainy day Ciel entered the office and spotted an envelope lying on his desk. He recognised it as being the envelope containing the heist notice that Tanaka had posted the afternoon before. He was about to open it when Sebastian arrived and immediately caught sight of the envelope.

"Is that a heist notice?" he questioned with alacrity.

"It is the usual envelope," Ciel said and handed it over to Sebastian.

He watched his rival's face as he neatly cut open the envelope with a paper knife from his desk and read the contents. Unexpectedly his face turned as white as snow and his eyes were wide with shock.

"...Interesting," was all he commented before giving it back.

Rather unsurprisingly Ciel read the notice and checked the envelope to make sure there was nothing strange or any evidence that he had accidently left when he had sealed it the previous day. Everything as the same as it had been, he hadn't left a hair caught in the adhesive. Something else had to be bothering Sebastian. The notice only listed the time, date and the address.

The others arrived separately within ten minutes and they discussed the notice between themselves as if they hadn't been the ones to create it. Sebastian did not partake in the conversation and appeared to be staring into space.

"I just looked up the address on the internet and it looks swanky," Mey-Rin said like they had not seen it multiple times already. "I'll look it up in the system to see who it belongs to."

Ciel turned to stare at Sebastian when Mey-Rin announced Ash Landers' name to observe his reaction. He wasn't disappointed as Sebastian flinched and looked annoyed. Was there a connection between Ash Landers and Sebastian? Was it related to his desire to dispense justice?

Again, he remembered the lack of information on Sebastian's past and wondered if there was a link there.

"We will have to arrange a visit there to inform Mr. Landers and ask if he has anything of value that could be the thief's target," Tanaka said. "Who wants to go this time?"

"I went to the Wordsmith one so I won't," Ciel answered.

Another voice agreed with him. "I will not go. I went on the initial visit to Wordsmith's house."

They all turned to look at Sebastian. It had been expected that Sebastian would want to do a better job than Ciel and would attend. His absence would make the casing of the house easier, but it was odd that he didn't want to go.

"Are you all right?" Mey-Rin queried in concern, now noticing his pale face.

Ciel got up and pressed his hand to Sebastian's forehead, noting that Sebastian didn't even react to his touch.

"I think you should take today off," he suggested in the kindest tone he could muster.

Much to his surprise Sebastian obeyed without protest and left the office. Ciel rejoined Tanaka and Mey-Rin and sighed in relief. It felt more relaxing without Sebastian there.

"That was strange," Mey-Rin stated the obvious.

"He may be genuinely ill," Tanaka pointed out.

Ciel shook his head. "He only became like that once he saw the notice and heard Ash Landers' name."

* * *

Whilst that conversation was occurring, Sebastian was returning to a place he thought he would never have to go to again unless it was with a couple pairs of handcuffs. His reasons for joining the Police and trying to steadily rise through the ranks were tied to it. Now he had to find out why the phantom thief wanted to do a heist on them.

When he arrived he stated his name at the gate and was buzzed through instantly. It seemed like they were expecting his return at any time. He stormed past the butler that opened the door and headed straight to the study.

A tall grey haired man looked up as he strode in.

"I thought you swore to never return here," he said with a nasty smirk.

"Ash, why does a phantom thief want to break into your house?" he questioned brusquely.

Instead of answering the question, Ash tutted. "I remember when you used to call me "Dad"."


	8. Eighth Sighting

**Moonlit Meetings:**

**Chapter 8:**

"Used to are the keywords," Sebastian corrected. "Stop trying to distract me and answer the question."

Ash sighed. "The thief isn't after my valuables. He is after evidence."

"Of your crimes?"

Sebastian's interest was piqued. He had been trying to get evidence to arrest Ash for a long time. His former foster father avoided the question and asked one of his own.

"Am I correct in remembering that Arthur Wordsmith was the target before me?"

Sebastian nodded cautiously.

"All of the previous heist targets are linked in some way. If you find that link you will know everything," Ash answered cryptically.

Sebastian had tried finding a connection beforehand, but had failed to find anything definitive. Prior to Wordsmith, the targets were either wealthy or had a title. It seemed that he hadn't been thorough enough or Ash was being misleading.

"Do you know who the phantom thief is? If you know the motive then you should know his identity."

Ash smirked nastily. "We have never properly met. I saw him once playing in the garden 15 years ago- I had just killed his parents so I did not hang around to talk to him."

Sebastian was stunned into silence at how casually Ash had admitted he was a murderer. It wasn't that he didn't know his former adoptive father was a murderer; to hear it so boldly was a shock.

"Are you planning on killing him too at the heist?" he questioned, able to guess the answer anyway.

"Well, I left him alive assuming he wouldn't try anything, but now that he is breaking into my house- he will have to die."

There was no shock for Sebastian this time so he replied with no hesitation.

"Not on my watch."

He left his former home as suddenly as he had arrived and returned to his flat. He needed time to digest what he had been told and recover from the surprise of finding out that Ash was involved.

Now he had little inclination to arrest the phantom thief. Their interests were in line with each other. He wanted to arrest Ash and the phantom thief wanted evidence that Ash had killed his parents. He had only been interested in the phantom thief at the start because he wanted to be promoted to a higher position so he could investigate Ash without consequence.

If Alois Trancy was the phantom thief and Ciel was his accomplice and they were both interested in obtaining justice, they could all work together. That was if Trancy really was Black Phantom. He would have to make sure first.

Ash had given him a number of hints that added more to the scant amount of information he had about the thief.

His parents had been murdered by Ash 15 years ago. He would need to go through the Police database for double deaths that occurred 15 years ago. He paused as he remembered something from the previous day that now seemed so far away.

Ciel's cousin Lizzie Midford had said something to Ciel about it being 15 years since some deaths. He hadn't picked up the whole conversation so he wasn't sure about the context. The phantom thief could be friends with or related to Ciel. That would fit with Trancy being the phantom thief.

He recalled Ash's hint about the heists being connected. It had to be something to do with the past targets' affluence or titles. Ciel had said that Trancy wasn't rich and he didn't speak like he had ever had parents with a title. Perhaps he wasn't the thief.

For now he decided that he should look for deaths of two people with titles or a large amount of wealth that had occurred 15 years ago. There was no guarantee that they would be listed as murders because Ash was good at covering his tracks.

As he was at home and not at the office, he trawled through newspaper articles first and found a likely looking contender almost immediately. The Phantomhive murder. The Earl and his wife were murdered and the house was set on fire to hide the evidence. Their bodies were identified by dental records. The butler and maid were out at the time. Their child whose name was not mentioned due to being a minor, had been in the garden at the time and had run to the neighbour's house when he had noticed the fire.

The details matched. He just needed the name of the son. There was a legitimate way to find that. It would be simple because Phantomhive was not a common surname. He entered the name on a website for birth certificates and a small amount of listings were found. One was Vincent Phantomhive, one was a Frances Phantomhive who looked to be his sister, their father and grandfather. The most recent listing was a Ciel Phantomhive with Vincent Phantomhive listed as his father.

Ciel Phantomhive

Ciel Durless

Everything began to click into place. Ciel was the phantom thief not Alois Trancy. It was the true reason behind his reluctance to do anything that would help find the thief and his mysterious incompetence. It also revealed the reason why Ciel appeared to absolutely hate him; he was afraid of being caught out by him.

Heists would be easy if you were the Police officer that decided everyone's positions and gave the orders. If you planned it carefully you could ensure you had a clear route to run. It explained how the phantom thief knew details about all the houses and knew safe places to exit. Ciel Phantomhive had done the casings as Ciel Durless. Even Sebastian had to appreciate the trick, it had certainly fooled him.

Ciel was short in height and liked manga, how could he have missed that? It was now clear that Alois Trancy was nothing more than a red herring. After all, Ciel had been the one to demonstrate that Trancy liked manga and was lacking in height.

He had been blind to everything. In addition it meant that Ciel had been the one to kiss him at the heist... It was preferable to the idea of being kissed by Alois Trancy. He didn't dwell on that thought, he had greater priorities.

Ciel was not going to like the prospect of working with him against Ash. He would have to explain carefully and gloss over Ash being his ex foster father. He toyed with the idea of returning to Scotland Yard and confronting him. Ciel would be caught off guard, but ultimately it was a public place. He would have to look up Ciel's address and make a surprise visit there in the evening.

* * *

The door was opened by an older woman dressed in red from head to toe complemented with very red lipstick. Sebastian had no idea who she was, however he knew it was Ciel's residence and he managed to push past her.

An unexpected sight met his eyes when he found Ciel. The phantom thief was sitting in an armchair with Tanaka at his elbow serving him tea. Now that he knew that Ciel's parents were titled, he could see it in the way he carried himself and the ease at which he took the teacup from Tanaka.

Naturally the next thing that Sebastian wondered was why Tanaka was there. Was Ciel paying him to serve him tea? He was mulling it over when the redhead from the door caught up with him with Mey-Rin beside her. What was going on?

"Ciel!" the woman called. "You have a very pushy visitor. He is rather fit by the way."

Ciel looked up and met Sebastian's eyes. His reaction was to spill his tea.

"What the hell are you doing here, Sebastian?" he demanded.

Tanaka and Mey-Rin began to slink away which was futile because Sebastian had already seen them.

"Are you paying Tanaka and Mey-Rin extra money to spend even more time with you than they already have to?"

Ciel looked too flabbergasted to form a coherent reply. The red haired woman burst out laughing.

"It wasn't that funny," Ciel complained. "Yes, I pay them to make my tea and do my cleaning. It's outside Police work hours so there is nothing wrong with it."

"I might have believed you if I didn't know who you really were," Sebastian commented, ready to watch Ciel's face.

Ciel sipped the remains of his tea delicately and raised his eyebrows whilst Tanaka discreetly cleaned up the spilled tea.

"Am I your latest suspect?"

"To be more accurate, Ciel Phantomhive is."

The reaction was immediate. Ciel's face hardened and the other three people in the room turned to stare him down. Sebastian didn't know that Mey-Rin could be that imposing.

"Now that you know, what are you going to do?" the red haired woman asked him, not relaxing her glare in the slightest. "Before you answer that, please be aware that I am a doctor so I have lots of weapons at my disposal."

Sebastian fought back a shiver. That woman was a force to be reckoned with.

"I have no intention of arresting Ciel," he stated and remembered that Tanaka and Mey-Rin were involved too. "Or his accomplices."

The glares because less intimidating and Sebastian relaxed slightly. He had got that part over with.

"What is the connection between Tanaka, Mey-Rin and you?" he asked conversationally. He needed to keep everyone calm so the revelation of his relation to Ash would not end in him being dismembered.

"Tanaka and Mey-Rin worked as butler and maid for the Phantomhive family. When I became old enough, we all joined the Police to lay the foundations for the plan."

Ciel's explanation answered some questions Sebastian had had about their close relationship and why Tanaka was so protective of Ciel.

"Who is the young lady?" he gestured to the red haired woman. If he complimented her she might look less threatening.

"My aunt, Angelina Durless."

Angelina winked at him, clearly gratified at being referred to as being young. Sebastian recognised the surname and theorised that she must have adopted him and changed his surname. He must have shown some reaction to it as Ciel looked at him probingly before posing a question.

"Did you work out what my name was from my birth certificate?"

"Yes."

"My surname was changed when I was adopted. Is that why yours did too? Sebastian Michaelis only has a birth certificate and didn't crop up again until he became a Police officer," Ciel said, giving Sebastian a demonstration that Ciel really had been playing stupid deliberately. He had deduced his adoption just from that.

"I was adopted from a children's home by Ash Landers," he informed him before Ciel could order him to be kicked to the curb. "I hate him now and I changed my name back to Michaelis when I found out about his crimes and joined the Police to arrest him."

He risked glancing at Angeline who looked curious instead of angry. He looked over at Ciel to see that Tanaka was whispering in his ear.

"What is your motive in coming here and revealing that much information?" the phantom thief enquired.

This was what Sebastian had been waiting for.

"As we have a common agenda I think we should team up, what do you think?"


	9. Ninth Sighting

**Moonlit Meetings:**

**Chapter 9:**

Ciel crossed one leg over the other and seemed to consider the proposition. He exchanged looks with his conspirers before coming to a decision.

"I agree there is a benefit in us working together so we should pool our knowledge and plan together," he paused. "If you ever betray us or this turns out to be a ploy to get evidence against me, Aunt Ann will deal with you."

The mention of Ciel's aunt made Sebastian feel like someone was walking over his grave and he hastened to deny Ciel's statement.

"I promise. We can make a contract if you like," he suggested. Ensuring that Ciel trusted him was important.

Once the contract was constructed and signed by everyone, Sebastian relaxed. Angelina now looked less threatening and Ciel wasn't glaring at him. Tanaka even offered him tea and Mey-Rin passed him a plate of biscuits.

Ciel began the discussion by producing the heist notice.

"We know our deadline for working out a plan. We have two weeks and we can't start properly until Mey-Rin and Tanaka visit tomorrow. Sebastian, can you give us any important information about the house?"

Sebastian was about to answer when he realised that he had to tell Ciel that Ash had indeed murdered his parents. If it was found out later that he had known, Ciel would hate him.

"Before I answer," he hesitated for a moment. "Ash told me earlier that the phantom thief was targeting him to find evidence that he had killed the phantom thief's parents. He also confessed to doing it."

Ciel's grip on the piece of card shook a little before he regained control. He gave Sebastian a small smile.

"We already suspected it was him so it isn't really a shock," he answered calmly.

"In the very least it will not be a pointless heist like the early ones," Tanaka interjected. "We can stop breaking the law after this."

"That would be nice," Mey-Rin agreed. "I always worry about Ciel getting arrested."

"You're an accessory to all the crimes he committed," Sebastian reminded her.

"You are in the same position," the phantom thief pointed out. "You signed the contract."

Inside he was still mistrustful of Sebastian. The contract had allayed some of his misgivings. The others had thought it was a good idea for them to group together and they were in the majority. He recalled in the beginning that he had thought it would be better if Sebastian was on their side because of his instincts and intelligence, so why was he worried?

Perhaps he was worried that Sebastian was going to question him about the kiss now that he knew who the phantom thief was. He decided it was best to avoid thinking about it.

* * *

The atmosphere at the office was different the next day. The sun was shining, Sebastian made tea and they were all on the same side. Ciel didn't have to worry about letting information slip or being caught out by Sebastian.

As Mey-Rin and Tanaka were visiting Ash Landers, he and Sebastian were alone in the office. They were sitting around one of the tables and having a competition to have the best infiltration and exit plan. It was something to pass the time before they could gain more information from Mey-Rin and Tanaka.

"I think we should get hold of some flash bombs, a mannequin and a hang glider. When I have found the evidence, I can use the flash bombs as a diversion and use the dummy and the hang glider to make it look like the thief escaped off the roof whilst I rejoin everyone as myself," Ciel related his hypothetical plan.

"You have read too many stories," Sebastian sighed. "In theory it would work, but when the dummy was found it would raise suspicions about one of us being the thief."

"It's all hypothetical," Ciel grumbled. "What's your idea?"

"Ash wants to kill you," Sebastian stated plainly instead of explaining his theory. "There's going to be something like a trap hidden somewhere to kill you. The house is full of secrets."

Ciel flinched. It wasn't particularly surprising that Ash wanted to kill him, now that he was aware that Ash knew who the phantom thief was. If Ash didn't want his crimes to be found, it would be natural that he would dispose of anyone that could find out.

"I can look after myself," he told Sebastian and tried to look confident. "We can all work together to construct a foolproof plan."

Sebastian patted him awkwardly on the head. "If Ash wants to kill someone, he usually manages it. I just hope he doesn't this time. I would feel guilty about not being able to prevent it."

"How did you know that he was a murderer when you were younger?" Ciel enquired.

It had been bothering him since the night before. If Sebastian had seen evidence of Ash's murders it would save time and make the heist simpler and less dangerous for all of them.

"I had returned from graduating university and was staying at their house for a while before I had to move somewhere else to start a job," Sebastian started his explanation. "One day I leaned against a wall and one of the portraits moved and I found a small recess behind it."

Ciel leaned forward in eagerness to hear the rest of the story.

"It was late at night and it was dark and I didn't want anyone to know I had found it so I felt around in the dark. I found something that felt like a knife. The tip of it felt sticky and wet as if there was blood on it. I didn't want to confirm my suspicions so I closed it up and returned to bed. In the morning I thought it had to be a dream."

"That isn't enough provocation for you to disown them and want to arrest Ash," Ciel observed. "There must be more."

"At breakfast I saw a newspaper article about a successful businessman being stabbed in suspicious circumstances. I would have dismissed it, but he used to be acquainted with Ash and his company was rapidly growing. It passed my mind that Ash had killed him to prevent any competition."

"What did you do after that?"

"I kept hearing or seeing things that suggested he was breaking the law. The dog sometimes had blood on his teeth and I would hear someone leaving the house late at night. The breaking point was when I overheard him bribing a Police officer that had come to question him for something he was suspected of," Sebastian said. "I left after that and changed my name by deed poll to my original name. I was planning to get promoted to a high enough position in the Police that I could investigate him without trouble."

Ciel was silent for a while as he considered his former rival's story. It sounded genuine enough and it explained why he had exhibited concern for his wellbeing. He was now convinced that Sebastian was being fully truthful.

"Ciel, I have an important question," Sebastian's voice jerked Ciel out of his internal monologue. "Now that are no secrets between us, can we get along better?"

"I don't see why not," he replied reluctantly. You won't be hounding me anymore and I don't need to avoid talking to you."

"That's good," Sebastian flashed one of his heart stopping smiles and Ciel blushed faintly.

"I'm glad it makes you happy," he averted his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at Sebastian.

"Did my smile make you blush?" Sebastian blushed. "Can I ask about that kiss now?"

The phantom thief's reaction was instantaneous. Ciel blushed even harder and covered his face with his hands.

"I didn't meant to!" he protested. "I had to distract you to knock you out."

Sebastian had clearly made a decision to be annoying as he wriggled an eyebrow disbelievingly instead of accepting the explanation and moving on.

"Is that really the truth?"

Ciel was saved from answering by the return of Mey-Rin and Tanaka. One look at them told him that the visit had not been successful. Tanaka's face looked like thunder and Mey-Rin's hair looked frazzled.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Tanaka asked as he took the seat next to Ciel.

"The good news first," Sebastian said.

"We got the floor plan from Ash," Mey-Rin informed him. "He and Angela will also be on holiday at the time so Sebastian and Ciel won't have to come in contact with him."

"The bad news is that the floor plan has lots of space unaccounted for and the place is a maze. The dog is very much alive and slobbered all over us," Tanaka said with a grimace. "He also wants a private security team instead of the Police. We managed to persuade him to let us be there too, but it was hard."

"I can help with the first two things," Sebastian volunteered. "I can take care of Pluto too- I never liked him anyway."

They combined their knowledge together and ended up with a completed floor plan by the end of the afternoon and a list of the possible ways to kill or maim the dog. Sebastian also listed the possible places evidence could be concealed and Mey-Rin marked on the plan were all the cameras would be.

"We should do what we always do and destroy the fuse box so all the lights go out and the cameras stop recording," Ciel noted it down on his list. "Does anyone have any ideas regarding the heist itself? If Sebastian is correct, Ash will be waiting in the shadows somewhere to kill me and there will be his security people around too."

"We can drug the extra guards," Tanaka suggested. "A couple of us should also be drugged to avoid suspicion. That takes care of them."

Ciel added that to the list and a strange thought came to him. All this time they had been talking about Ash and hadn't seriously considered the person he was married to.

"What about Angela Landers?"

Sebastian looked surprised at the sudden question and then his expression cleared once he realised what Ciel was referring to.

"Ash may be the one that does the killing and is the most dangerous. However she isn't innocent. She knew what he was doing and I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't suggest some of the victims to be killed," he explained. "If Ash tries to kill you, she wouldn't be there- she doesn't like getting her hands dirty."

Ciel took note and continued on with his questions.

"What about the servants?"

"There is a butler and a couple of maids. We requested that the house be cleared of unrelated people and he gave them orders to be absent in front of us," Mey-Rin said.

"Does anyone have any sensible ideas yet?" the phantom thief questioned. "For the moment, I'm stumped and I don't want Ash to jump out of somewhere at the heist and kill me."

There was a brief silence whilst everyone was deep in thought. In the end the silence was broken by Sebastian.

"I have an idea. It's an idea Ciel would come up with, but it's the best I have got. We need flash bombs and Alois Trancy."


	10. Tenth Sighting

**Moonlit Meetings:**

**Chapter 9:**

2 weeks later:

A number of plans later, they had their final plan and few essential back up plans with the last resort being to escape without stopping to collect any evidence. They were well equipped with some unique homemade items from Angelina who couldn't come in with them. Instead four members of the investigation team entered the house.

As promised the house was empty apart from the dog and the members of the private security firm employed by Ash. The head of the group was a Charles Grey who Sebastian found tiresome as he varied between being childish and then strangely serious.

"Who is your boss?" he demanded.

Sebastian pushed the shortest member of the team forward to let him take charge.

"You're a bit of a midget," Charles commented. "We aren't under any obligation to follow your orders."

"You may not be, however you could be arrested for obstructing the investigation if you don't follow instructions," the representative of the investigation team informed him snootily. "Just stay out of the way and I won't have to arrest anyone apart from the phantom thief."

Grey snorted and turned away, the winner of the argument clear and ordered the men to ask the midget or one of his minions for instructions.

Mey-Rin issued them their positions where they had to stand in two hours time which was when the heist was due to start. It was to ensure that it looked like they were trying to prevent the heist from occurring instead of being the people behind it. After that they regrouped in the library to recap their own plan.

"Half an hour before the heist, Mey-Rin is to issue the sedatives to the security firm in tea. For the moment, Tanaka needs to place to the explosives and timer in the fuse box, I will deal with Pluto and the "midget" can find a place to hide his costume," Sebastian summarised. "Is everyone clear?"

They all nodded and Tanaka, the phantom thief and Sebastian left to carry out their tasks. Sebastian placed a poisoned bone where Pluto would find it later on. The phantom thief costume was concealed in an oversized oriental vase in one of the spare bedrooms with the window left open on purpose.

Thirty minutes before the heist start time, Mey-Rin served everyone tea including herself. Sebastian and two other members of the investigation team picked teacups with the handles on the left side to drink out of, as this indicated undoctored tea whilst the remaining people drank the drugged tea.

Sebastian positioned himself on the first floor and waited for the appointed time. He had noticed that the back and front door of the house were unlocked which had not been commented on by the security firm meaning it was likely to be the way Ash was going to sneak back into the house.

He didn't like it, but they had to let Ash hide himself. He was concerned about Ciel although he had promised to rescue him in case everything went wrong. The moon was full tonight and when the lights went out it would add to an eerie atmosphere to the house and it was creepy enough in the first place.

At midnight a few clocks chimed and the lights went out, allowing the moon to bathe the house and create strange shadows that put the phantom thief on edge. He changed into the costume and went straight to the hallway that Sebastian had indicated earlier to find the secret recess. Due to the window he had left open, the air was cold and made him even more nervous. He passed an unconscious guard on the way and simply stepped over him.

He found the secret space easily enough and used a torch to check what was in there. There was only a knife which he pocketed. Tanaka was on the second floor looking in Ash's office for evidence whilst he had to go down to the ground floor to the library. He allowed himself to relax slightly once he had found one piece of evidence and paused for a moment to check his surroundings with the torch. The beam of light revealed that no one was hiding in the shadows and he was alone for the moment.

On his route there he encountered a passed out Mey-Rin sprawled across the stairs and found the dog dead in the hallway with foam around its mouth.

He crept into the library and quickly ran his torch along the walls and furniture to check for any hidden murderers and found none, although his heartbeat accelerated when the wind caused the curtain to billow and touch the back of his neck.

He scanned the bookshelves for the specific book that Sebastian had told him about and found it on the bottom shelf. The phantom thief straightened up and as he did so there was a sudden gust of wind that caused him to shiver. He cursed out loud in surprise and then he remembered that the wind meant the window was open and it had been locked an hour earlier when they had checked.

Someone else had opened it since.

He turned to look around and received a blow to the head with something heavy that knocked him out.

* * *

Tanaka placed the incriminating documents into a folder to pick up later and met Sebastian in the agreed place on the first floor.

"He's just gone down to the ground floor," Sebastian told him immediately. "There hasn't been any other sounds apart from his footsteps so he should be alone."

At that point they heard a heavy thud that sounded like it came from below them and they hurried down the stairs. Sebastian pushed open the door of the study to find no one was there and the window was wide open.

"Ash has got him," Tanaka stated the obvious and Sebastian climbed out of the window. "I'll check the back garden, you can check the front."

They split once they were outside and Sebastian combed the front garden desperately and even checked outside the gates for any sign of Ash and his victim. He encountered Tanaka around the side of the house who had also found nothing.

"Did you hear any noises?" Sebastian questioned.

"I heard something that sounded like a door closing, but-"

"That's it," Sebastian exclaimed. "Whilst I was at the front of the house and you were going around the side, he went through the back door into the house."

With that idea they re-entered the house and split again with Tanaka taking the ground floor in case Ash had doubled back and Sebastian searching the first floor.

* * *

The phantom thief cracked open an eyelid and saw a purple eyed man looking straight at him. He knew it was obvious that he was no longer unconscious so he opened his eyes fully and surveyed his surroundings. There was a desk and a number of filing cabinets and he recognised he was on the second floor in the office with a high powered torch illuminating the room with white light. Tentatively he felt the back of his head and found a lump that was bleeding and as he did he noticed he was no longer wearing a wig or mask. He tried to sit up, but the backlash of pain from his head made him reconsider.

"Hello, Ciel Phantomhive," Ash greeted with a smirk. "I'm glad to see that the blow didn't kill you."

The concussed man let out a stream of colourful language that only amused Ash further.

"You have certainly changed a lot since I last saw you. You are still extremely short though," he smirked. "Is your head hurting?"

"Just a little," was the reply.

Ash smiled and his teeth seemed to glow in the white light. "If you were wondering why I have left you alive for the minute, it is because I am waiting for someone."

"Is it Mrs. Landers?" the phantom thief teased, eager to keep him talking. The others had to find eventually, he was still in the house and a couple of them had to be looking around for him.

"No, I was referring to my son. I know he disowned us and changed his name, but I still refer to him as my son. Do you like him?" Ash enquired.

Keen that the conversation was still continuing and he was still alive, the thief answered the question.

"He's not too bad, I guess."

Ash looked pleased which was disconcerting for the one lying on the ground with a head injury. He would be less terrified if Ash was a villain with an alarming beard and a foul mouth. Well spoken and seemingly kind ones were worse than the alternative.

"I thought you two would look good together," he mused thoughtfully. "You both mutually hate me and want to get revenge on me. Those kinds of situations are good for bonding."

"I had no idea matchmaking was one of your hobbies."

"I am not saying that out of concern for your love life," Ash informed him condescendingly. "I am going to kill you in front of him. The more he likes you, the more it will hurt and the more guilt he will feel about not being able to save you."

"Is that so?"

He was desperately waiting for the sound of running footsteps and someone to come rushing in, but there wasn't any noise like that. He was still on his own with a psychopath.

"It might take him longer than expected to find us," Ash sighed disappointedly. "I underestimated him."

As he spoke the sound of footsteps became apparent and they stopped outside the door.

"Sebastian, you can come in," Ash called out.

The door opened and Sebastian rushed in and took stock of the situation.

"Ciel!" he shouted in concern and bent down next to him.

Ash simply stood there and smiled in satisfaction.

"Are you all right?" Sebastian asked and felt the back of his head.

There was the sound of a cry and something falling that sounded faraway that caused Ash's smirk to grow wider.

"Angela has just dealt with your accomplice. I think she was incensed by Pluto's death."

Sebastian half moved away from the prone thief on the floor, distracted by the attack on Tanaka and Ash took advantage of the situation to recapture the phantom thief and produced a fiendish looking knife from his jacket pocket.

"You can watch him bleed out first. Since you were my son I will give you a painless death afterwards. It's a shame you defied me."

He pressed the blade to the phantom thief's throat to prevent Sebastian from attacking him. There was another approaching noise that stopped just before the doorway that puzzled Ash.

"Did your female accomplice wake up? Never mind, I can take care of her after this."

He was about to pierce the phantom thief's neck when the person outside in the hallway came into view and confused Ash even further.

It was someone else dressed in the phantom thief outfit, holding something in his hand. His face was uncovered and he was easily recognisable as being the real Ciel Phantomhive. Before he could speak, Ciel dropped the object in his hand and the room was lit up in a blinding flash.


	11. Eleventh Sighting

**Moonlit Meetings:**

**Chapter 11:**

As he had known what Ciel was about to do, Sebastian covered his eyes before the flash bomb went off and pulled Alois Trancy out of Ash's hold and knocked the knife away whilst Ash was blinded by the flash. When Ash opened his eyes again, he found that he was handcuffed and the knife was on the floor some distance away from him.

Sebastian's former foster father was more focused on Ciel than the fact that he was restrained.

"Who is the other phantom thief?" he demanded.

"Sebastian relegated me to being the backup phantom thief," Ciel complained. "I had to climb in through the open window on the first floor to get in once the lights had gone out."

Sebastian turned to smirk at Ash. "When you said you had left Ciel alone until now, I realised that you potentially didn't know what he currently looked like and would go after anyone that was male, short in height with a dark hair colour and wearing the right clothes so I got someone else to wear the costume and dye their hair."

"I raised you well," Ash sighed and shook his handcuffs. "I have lost then."

Sebastian was not fooled by his act. He knew Ash well enough to presume that he had something else up his sleeve and was only trying to distract him. Ash had never been a person to admit defeat.

"If you are waiting for Angela to come and save you, we outnumber her," Ciel observed, his thoughts on the same track as Sebastian's.

"You killed Pluto," Ash pointed out. "She will be very willing to go on a rampage now."

Sebastian went back out into the hallway and saw something approaching that he was very glad to see. It was exceedingly fortunate that Ciel's aunt was strong as well as good at making threats.

"If you wanted help from Angela, I don't think it's coming now," he told Ash triumphantly as a ruffled looking Angelina dragged Angela Landers into the room. Angela was currently trapped in a headlock.

Ash glared malevolently, finally giving up the act.

"It was tough, but I managed to restrain her," Angelina said. "Are the handcuffs ready?"

Ciel produced them and joined his aunt to put them on Angela. After one wrist was cuffed Angelina let her grip loosen slightly which was all the opportunity Angela needed to slip out the headlock and grab the knife on the floor that had been knocked away from Ash.

Everyone backed away from her slowly and Ciel pushed Alois behind him. His best friend had already been concussed in his stead and he didn't want to cause his death too. Angela fixed her eyes on Ciel, raised the knife and ran towards him.

Ciel was frozen in fear and surprise and expected to feel the pain of the knife plunging into him. It didn't come and he found that Sebastian had stepped in front of him.

His aunt took control of the situation and grabbed Angela again and Alois attached the other handcuff whilst Ciel checked Sebastian for injuries. If blood dripped on the floor, the forensics team would find it and start to add up facts that they didn't want to be linked together.

"I didn't realise I liked you enough to get stabbed instead of you," Sebastian murmured.

"You mean scratched," Ciel corrected. "She caught the side of your cheek. Stop being dramatic."

"It was fortunate that her aim was extremely bad," Sebastian said with a grimace before turning serious. "We need to continue to the next part of the plan before everyone wakes up from the sedative."

Alois sighed loudly. "I was enjoying the scene. You should have let Ciel nurse you for longer and you should have added another romantic line in too."

"There's a time and a place for that and it isn't now," Sebastian said and accepted a tissue from Ciel. "Ciel, you wanted to ask Ash something."

Ciel nodded and walked over to his parents' murderer. He had been waiting for this moment for years and he couldn't spoil it now by not knowing what to say. He had to choose his words carefully or the plan would be ruined.

"Why did you kill my parents?"

Ash looked unsurprised by the question and was brutally honest.

"Because they were in my way. Vincent Phantomhive was in the midst of setting up a confectionary line that would rival my own. I prefer to kill my competition before they get too successful."

Ciel moved onto the next question. They needed confirmation of Angela's role in the whole affair.

"How do you choose rivals to kill? Do you decide or is it your wife?"

At the mention of her name, Angela narrowed her eyes at him.

"Angela does. She is a germophobe and hates the sight of blood so I do the killing."

The phantom thief turned to the female involved.

"Is that true?"

"Yes," she answered. "I choose, he kills."

"Who decided on the tax evasion?" he changed the subject.

"I did," Ash volunteered. "Why are you asking all these questions?"

"I will tell you after the next one," Ciel replied with a smirk. "Is it true that you bribe members of the Police?"

"I do. It is amazing what you can do if you are rich."

Ciel drew a phone out of his pocket and stopped the recording that had been in process.

"Thank you for your cooperation, we just needed a little more undisputable evidence to ensure you both get a long prison sentence," he said and pocketed the phone again. "How long do we have left?"

Sebastian checked his watch. "Four minutes at the shortest. Take the back door as we need to the climbing equipment to suggest the thief came from outside."

Ciel and his aunt left the room whilst Sebastian helped Alois take off the phantom thief costume from over his clothes.

"When everyone wakes up, it will appear that the phantom thief has restrained you two and escaped," Sebastian explained. "Don't bother trying to tell the truth about this heist: no one will believe you. You were the ones to attack Tanaka, Chief Inspector Durless and myself. Those are hardly the actions of truthful and reliable witnesses."

That part of the plan went without a hitch. Ash was smart enough to know he had no chance of protesting his innocence with his fingerprints all over the knife found at the scene, the book used to knock "Ciel" out and Angela's prints over another knife that had been used to stab Tanaka. The former butler had been taken away by ambulance and the paramedics were optimistic about his recovery as the wound had not been deep. "Ciel" was treated at the scene for his head injury and Sebastian's cheek had stitches.

The evidence they had found left the house in Mey-Rin's bag as her questioning went on for the shortest time because she had been unconscious for the entire heist.

* * *

A week after the heist, Ciel anonymously sent one copy of the evidence and an edited version of the recording to Scotland Yard and another copy to the press. He and Sebastian had decided that certain newspapers would jump at the chance of unveiling a major figure in the business world as being a criminal. That decision was made in case Scotland Yard dismissed the evidence as being fake or tried to cover it up.

In the face of Ash and Angela's arrests at the heist for assaulting members of the investigation team, the evidence was used by the Police to bring several counts of murder, coercion and tax evasion against the pair and the case was highly publicised in the media.

After tests found traces of Vincent and Rachel Phantomhive's blood on one of the knives found in the house, that charge was also brought against Ash much to Ciel's satisfaction. When he was younger he had wanted to kill his parents' murderer and as he had grown up, he had realised that killing him would be too kind and it would be more satisfying to see him publically humiliated and rot in prison.

A fortnight after the submission of the evidence, Ciel sent a retirement notice from the phantom thief to Scotland Yard to announce he had given up his life of crime and provided a list of the illegal activities of the previous targets so they could also be investigated. Once those investigations had been completed and most had been arrested or fined, the phantom thief investigation team was disbanded.

Tanaka retired from the Police and Mey-Rin handed in her resignation, both having completed Ciel's orders and had no need to continue working there. Ciel was undecided about resigning or staying on at Scotland Yard. At the moment he had been moved to investigate a different case and Sebastian was working on a different case down the corridor.

Ciel knew that part of his reason for being undecided about staying or leaving was Sebastian. Following the dissolution of the investigation, they had not really talked and only exchanged greetings when they encountered each other. Ciel began to think that Sebastian had only briefly liked him because they had the same agenda and once the case was concluded and they had ceased to have anything in common, he no longer liked him. Ciel had realised along the way that he had liked Sebastian,

One day the conflicting feelings came to fruition when he found Sebastian sitting alone at a table in the canteen. Ciel was only still at work because he was working overtime on a complex case and had come to the canteen for some cake. He paused for a moment and sat down opposite Sebastian with his cake.

"Are you working late too?" he asked casually.

Sebastian looked up and smiled at him. "Just for a while. How are you getting on with your case?"

They talked Police matters for several minutes and then Sebastian asked after his aunt, Mey-Rin and Tanaka.

"They are doing fine. Aunt Ann was thinking about moving out of London and to the country with them because we have done all we needed to here. The decision is dependent on me though as they want me to come with them."

"That's interesting," was Sebastian's only comment.

Ciel scowled. The conversation wasn't going how he wanted it.

"What do you think?"

"It's your decision," Sebastian said unhelpfully. "You can stay here and slave away investigating cases or you can move to the countryside and have a break from investigating forever."

Ciel ruffled his hair in exasperation. That hasn't helped at all, he was still undecided.

"I still don't know what to do."

Sebastian's response came as a surprise. "Would life in London be more interesting if we dated?"

Ciel blushed the colour of a tomato instantly. "Are you making me an offer?"

His former rival turned his head away and Ciel spotted that his ears were red which caused him to smile.

"I'll take that as a yes," he hesitated before adding something else."Why didn't you ask me sooner?"

"The time was never right and you never told me if you liked me or not so I didn't want to force something potentially unwanted on you. When you told me about Angelina's plans, I thought you were trying to hint that you wanted me to ask you to stay here."

Ciel flushed even harder. Sebastian was correct, he had never given Sebastian a proper indication that he liked him and had only told him about moving because he wanted to be told not to go.

"Sorry. It's little late but, I do like you."

"It's better late than never," Sebastian replied. "So, will you accept my offer? I will make you tea every day."

"You didn't need to add that part about tea in, I would have accepted anyway."

Ciel knew that he liked Sebastian for more than his tea making skills or his desire to arrest Ash. He liked Sebastian for his other qualities.

"Do I have a chance of getting a kiss that won't be followed by chloroform?" Sebastian enquired with a wink and was happy when Ciel gave him one.

**The End**

* * *

**Thank you to everyone that commented and gave kudos on this fanfiction.**

**I will not be writing for Kuroshitsuji again until I have finished my fanfiction for a different fandom under another name. That fanfiction should be finished by September.**


End file.
